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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925441">Must've Been the Wind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intricate6/pseuds/Intricate6'>Intricate6</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Domestic Violence, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, References to Depression</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:41:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925441</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intricate6/pseuds/Intricate6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jungwoo moved into his new apartment he didn't expect to be investigating the sound of glass shattering in the middle of the night</p><p>Inspired by "Must Have Been the Wind" by Alec Benjamin</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Jungwoo/Mark Lee (NCT), Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>80</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Must've Been the Wind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>tw// read the tags!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jungwoo collapsed onto his bed, weariness deep in his bones after his first day at work. Last year, he graduated college with his degree in mechanical engineering and had been lucky enough to be hired by the company he interned with his senior year. The money he had scraped together while working waiting tables during college was just enough to get a furnished apartment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His first paycheck would be enough for him to get real silverware and sheets for his bed, but for now he had to make do with sleeping on a mattress and an empty kitchen. It did make his apartment terribly sad, but unfortunately there was little Jungwoo could do about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>While in college, Jungwoo’s parents had paid for what room and board his scholarship didn’t cover, but when they found him kissing a boy, their financial support quickly stopped, leaving Jungwoo living with a friend his senior year and doing his best to pay his part of the rent. Luckily Lucas, who just happened to be the boy his parents walked in on him kissing, was generous and refused to take any money that wasn’t for rent, absurdly claiming that the free food Jungwoo brought home from work was more than enough to cover the other expenses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo was pretty sure Lucas just blamed himself for getting Jungwoo disowned, but it really wasn’t his fault Jungwoo’s parents happened to be homophobes who didn’t know how to knock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The minute Jungwoo had heard the door open, he had jumped away from Lucas, but he was just slightly too slow; his mom had seen enough. Needless to say a lot of screaming resulted, which drew the attention of Jungwoo’s dad. His dad probably would’ve resorted to blows if it wasn’t for Lucas grabbing a frozen Jungwoo by the shoulders and guiding him out of his parents’ house, reassuring Jungwoo that he’d always have a place at his apartment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas was an actual godsend. He had helped Jungwoo pack up all of his things and move out, had gotten him back on his feet after being thrown out. But now he was in China, working his new job, making new friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They still talked, their snap streak still going strong, which was actually quite impressive since Jungwoo had long given up on streaks with everyone else. It was different now, though, there were hundreds of miles in between them and they had broken up when Lucas left for China, neither wanting to tie the other down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had seemed all good and great at the time, but now all Jungwoo heard about were Lucas’s new friends while he was stuck alone in an empty apartment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But at least he had a roof over his head, a job that paid well. It was going to be okay, Jungwoo just had to make it through these first few months. Once his pay was coming in steadily, he would be able to make his small apartment a home. Until then, he was just going to have to live off of ramen eaten with wooden chopsticks he stole from the restaurant down the street. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>        Jungwoo jolted awake to the sound of glass shattering. He groped around his night stand until his fingers finally touched the smooth exterior of his phone. He picked it up and squinted at the screen, the light it emitted too bright for his tired eyes. Finally, Jungwoo’s eyes adjusted enough for him to read the time: 1 am. What possibly could have broken at this hour of the night? Jungwoo didn't have any glass in his room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>      Figuring that the sound was just a figment of his imagination, Jungwoo was ready to drift back to sleep when the sound of someone crying reached his ears. Jungwoo sat up in bed and focused hard on the sound. It was coming from the apartment above him, he realized. Then the crying stopped and the person, a guy judging by the timber of his voice, started to speak. Jungwoo couldn't make out what the guy was saying, but he could hear his fear-filled tone. There was a loud thud and then the sound of crying came once more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>      Jungwoo was suddenly wide awake. Something was clearly wrong upstairs. It was only his third day in the apartment, though, was it his place to go checking up on his neighbors? But then again, what if someone had broken in upstairs or something? Maybe it was nothing, but maybe it was something really bad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>        Jungwoo figured he should check it out, just in case. He should go upstairs and knock on the door and see if anything was wrong because if something was actually seriously wrong he would never forgive himself for not doing something about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>        His mind made up, Jungwoo slid out of bed and threw on a sweatshirt, cursing his moral compass for making him get out of his bed at 1 am when he had work tomorrow. Jungwoo slipped his feet into a random pair of shoes by the door and ventured out into the dark hallway, his neighbors being reasonable people and asleep. Or at least maybe they actually had sheets on their bed and were comfortable enough to sleep deeply. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>        As Jungwoo entered the elevator and pressed the button for the second floor, he realized he had no clue what to say if they opened the door. ‘Hey I heard some weird noises and wanted to make sure you weren’t dying or something?’ just sounded stupid. And what if they didn’t answer? Would he just press his ear to the door and hope he didn’t hear anything too worrying? But wouldn’t silence be even worse? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>      The elevator dinged as the door slid open and Jungwoo found himself padding down the hallway to stand in front of apartment 202, the one directly above his 102.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       With a big inhale, Jungwoo knocked on the door, three quick raps that seemed to echo through the hallway. Jungwoo could barely hear anything over the beating of his heart. It was just checking in on a neighbor, no reason to be anxious, but his brain only seemed to come up with worst-case scenarios. What if someone busted out of the apartment dressed in all black with a gun and shot Jungwoo down for meddling in his robbery? What if—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       The door creaked open to reveal a boy, probably college aged, but Jungwoo was awful at guessing how old someone was, wearing a black hoodie with the hood up and drawn around his face, leaving it shadowed. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his eyes were tired. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>       “I don't know you. Why are you here?” he asked, voice matching the one Jungwoo had heard earlier in his apartment, crying out in fear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       “Uh, I live in the apartment below you and I heard some glass shatter and a loud thud? And I was wondering if you were alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       The boy glanced over his shoulder, eyes fearful for a second before he turned back to face Jungwoo. “Thanks for the concern, but we’re all fine here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder again. “Now, excuse me, but I have to go back in,” the boy started to close the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       “Wait!” Jungwoo called before the door could close all the way. “Are you sure? Because it really didn’t sound good and—“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       “I think your ears are playing tricks on you because I didn’t hear anything. It must have been wind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>       And with that, the door closed in Jungwoo’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>       Jungwoo returned to his apartment in a daze. Something was clearly wrong. It most certainly was not just the wind unless the wind could cry, which Jungwoo had yet to see proof of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>        Jungwoo didn't even know the boy’s name or his story, but he was determined to help. They way he had looked over his shoulder with fear while he was talking with Jungwoo said enough. There was no way Jungwoo was going to abandon someone, even if it was someone that he didn’t even know because the sounds that he had heard were most definitely not just the wind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The following night, Jungwoo didn’t hear anything coming from upstairs, but he did see the boy the following morning wearing a blue sweatshirt with the hood up, despite the heat, and a black backpack slung over his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Jungwoo called, jogging to catch up with the boy. “I’m sorry about the other night, I thought that I heard crying and a thud and I got all paranoid that you were getting robbed or something,” he let out a little chuckle at his words, “but it was late at night and you said you didn’t hear anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy fiddled with the straps of his backpack. “No, I didn’t hear anything, must’ve been the wind or something.” He talked to his feet, not even attempting to look Jungwoo in the eye. “Now I have to get to class, so if you don’t mind…” he started to walk away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” the boy turned around with a raised eyebrow, “Before you go, could you at least tell me your name? I’m Jungwoo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mark,” the boy answered before turning and walking away.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mark</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Jungwoo repeated in his head. He had no answers to his questions about what was going on in apartment 202, but at least he had a name: Mark. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night on his way home from work, Jungwoo stopped by the store to stock up on ramen for the week. He had to wait until the end of the month for his first paycheck and until then he had to live off of the bare minimum. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On his way to the checkstand, Jungwoo passed by the clearance section for the bakery. A box of cookies caught his eye and suddenly Jungwoo had a plan on how to talk to Mark again, he added the cookies to his basket and went to check out. It was only an extra 1,000 won and it definitely was going to be worth it in the long run if it brought him closer to solving the mystery that was apartment 202. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo was laying on the floor of his room, the cold concrete pressing against his back when an angry voice shouted upstairs. It was followed by Mark’s voice and he sounded upset. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo shot up and ran to the cookies. He tossed them onto a paper plate and practically sprinted to the elevator, hoping that he could reach Mark before the situation escalated even further. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what felt like the longest elevator ride ever, Jungwoo finally found himself knocking on Mark’s apartment door. There was still an angry voice screaming inside, but whoever it was stopped after they heard Jungwoo knocking. A couple of seconds later a man answered the door, looking around Mark’s age if not older. “What do you want?” he demanded, arms crossed, blocking the doorway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I just moved into the apartment below this one and I met Mark earlier and then I made cookies today and had some extra so I decided to drop them off here. I don’t really need to be eating so much sugar, but I stress bake. You know how it is.” Jungwoo plastered a big smile on his face as he lied through his teeth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man in the doorway chuckled at his words and seemed to relax. “Babe there’s someone at the door with cookies for you!” he called into the apartment before turning back to Jungwoo. “I would invite you in, but I’m afraid our apartment is quite unsightly at the moment, we’re working on redecorating and moving around furniture. I apologize if we’re being too noisy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh no, it’s perfectly fine, I’m usually a deep sleeper.” Jungwoo replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, just then Mark appeared, wearing his normal hoodie, saving Jungwoo from the awkwardness that was small talk. “Hey Mark! I baked some cookies and had some extra!” Jungwoo handed Mark the plate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Mark muttered as he stared skeptically at the plate, but didn't say anything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well thank you for dropping off the cookies, my boyfriend and I will certainly enjoy them,” the man who answered the door said in a voice that clearly said that he was ready for Jungwoo to go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Any time, I guess I’ll see you guys around,” Jungwoo said with a small wave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have a great night!” Mark’s boyfriend replied as he closed the door, leaving Jungwoo alone in the hallway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was something off about their conversation, something that Jungwoo couldn’t quite pinpoint. Maybe it was the way Mark’s boyfriend had emphasized the fact that they were in a relationship, or how he seemed to do all the talking. But then again, Mark was always quiet when they talked, so maybe that was just the way he was. That still left the saccharine sweetness with which Mark’s boyfriend had talked. In Jungwoo’s experience, people only talked that way when they had an end goal in mind, something that they wanted to achieve, like a pay raise or a free drink. Whatever it was, Jungwoo was going to have to keep an eye on apartment 202, something just wasn’t quite right. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-----------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next time Jungwoo saw Mark was a week later while doing his laundry. There had been no loud noises coming from above and Jungwoo figured that whatever was happening was over. However, when Mark walked into the laundry room with a basket in his arms full of dirty clothes, Jungwoo realized how wrong he had been. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark had his normal hoodie drawn around his face, but nothing could hide the way his eye was almost swollen shut, the concealer that had obviously been applied barely enough to cover the purple color. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo almost dropped his phone in shock. “Are you okay? What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark’s head shot up and he met Jungwoo’s eyes, surprise written clearly on his face. He looked over his shoulder as if he contemplated just leaving and doing his laundry another time before he slumped forward. “I fell into a chair,” he muttered, walking past Jungwoo to throw his clothes into one of the washing machines.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A chair?” Jungwoo sputtered, not believing a word that Mark had said. “A chair did that to your face?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Mark drew his hood closer around his face. “And I don’t really want to talk about it, it’s embarrassing.” There was a slight edge to his voice that made Jungwoo back down, understanding that a line had been drawn. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A couple of minutes passed in silence, just the sound of the old washing machines to fill the space between Jungwoo and Mark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, Jungwoo got tired of just leaning against the dryer awkwardly while Mark played with the hem of his hoodie a couple of feet away. “So you go to school?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark’s fidgeting stopped. “How did you--oh, right when we saw each other outside.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you said you were going to class, so I was wondering what school you went to?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The community college down the road.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That seems cool, what grade are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Senior.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo held back a frustrated sigh, talking to Mark was like talking to a brick wall. “And what are you studying?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elementary education. I want to be a kindergarten teacher.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you like kids?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark let out a small smile. “Yeah, the elementary years are really important for a child’s development and I want to help kids. Did you know that we could actually teach kids how to read more quickly if we used different methods? I have two younger siblings that I loved to take care of before I went to college and they really got me interested in the career.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bingo, Jungwoo had found what interested Mark. “That’s actually really cool. I’m definitely more of an antisocial engineer, but I think it’s admirable how much you want to help the kids.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think so?” Mark’s face lit up. “Most people just tell me not to become a teacher because it’s hard work and there’s not a lot of money to be made.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo shrugged. “Happiness is more important than money.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I agree!” Jungwoo realized he had never seen Mark actually smile, but now he was, eyes lit up with passion, but as quickly as the smile manifested, it was gone. “But my boyfriend tells me that I should’ve picked something with more money and that guys shouldn’t be teachers, let alone kindergarten ones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark’s boyfriend, the person who Jungwoo was almost positive had put that bruise on Mark’s face. He truly was a despicable person. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I think that it’s 2020 and you should be able to do what you want regardless of gender,” Jungwoo said, his voice coming out slightly harder than he intended. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark ducked his head, muttering a quiet “thanks,” his cheeks dusted pink. “I needed that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo smiled sadly, Mark deserved so much more than what the world had dealt him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what do you do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The question caught Jungwoo off guard for a second, it was the first time Mark had taken the initiative to continue a conversation. “I graduated last year and now I’m a mechanical engineer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you’re really smart then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo shrugged. “I suppose, but sometimes it really doesn't feel like it.” Someone smart would have already figured out how to help Mark, how to get him away from his abusive boyfriend. But Jungwoo couldn’t do anything but bring cookies to their door in hopes of breaking up what was happening upstairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm, I get that. People always told me I was smart in high school, but I don’t feel really smart right now.” Mark reached up to his cheek, fingers brushing against the bruise as if it was a living example of how smart he wasn’t. “Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and keep myself from making some of the choices I did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, me too,” Jungwoo sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just then, the chime on the dryer went off, signalling that Jugwoo’s clothes were done. He gathered his clothes back into the basket, reveling in their warmth before standing back up, clothes in hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess I’ll see you around,” Jungwoo said awkwardly to Mark, hands nervously playing with his clothes through the plastic of the  laundry basket. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was almost out of the room before Mark stopped him. “By the way, thank you for the cookies. They were quite good even though they weren't homemade.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Jungwoo’s turn to blush. “Thanks,” he muttered, almost tripping over his feet as he hurried to leave the laundry room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His face was still on fire when he returned to his apartment, fumbling with the key before he finally managed to open the door. Mark had seen through his cookie ploy. This was so embarrassing. How was he ever going to face Mark again knowing that the younger knew he was a cookie fraud? But then again, he hadn’t seemed mad about it, almost grateful. So maybe Jungwoo’s ploy had worked in the end? Maybe he had managed to help Mark in a weird, fake homemade cookies kind of way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Several days passed in silence, only filled with the monotony of Jungwoo going to work, sitting on his computer for the majority of his day, looking at diagrams and numbers, eating his lunch of ramen quietly in the breakroom, before taking the subway home, starting at the people around him, all living in their own worlds, with their own problems, not even knowing that he was there. It was a lonely existence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His limited form of actual human interaction was Lucas’s snapchats. He sent and received at least one a day, usually more. However, it didn’t feel like it used to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucas’s snaps were full of his smiling friends as they went out together, whereas Jungwoo’s were just him alone in his room, wishing that he was brave enough to talk to people at work, to make friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo took a picture of the corner of his bed sheet to send to Lucas with the caption “some days i feel as if i’m useless”. Two minutes later his phone was buzzing with a facetime request.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on?” Lucas asked, once Jungwoo accepted the call, his eyes wide with worry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just the whole world feels as if it would just keep on spinning without me, that I'm just a lonely cog in the machine, that I make no ripples in the lake of life. I could disappear one day and no one would notice that I was gone. My seat at work would be filled with some new, wide-eyed person within two weeks, someone else would quickly move into this godforsaken apartment. Hell, there’s not even that much of my stuff to move out. There’s no one who would even care if I died.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would care.” Lucas’s eyes were so wide and caring and full of genuine worry that Jungwoo was tempted to throw his phone across the room just so he wouldn’t have to stare into those soul-searching eyes anymore. “Jungwoo, is everything okay? Are you feeling okay? Do I need to be worried about you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Jungwoo ran a hand over his face, “No, you don’t need to be worried about me. I promise, I’m good; I won’t do anything. I’m just...in a mood.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The concerned look didn’t leave Lucas’s face. “What do you need me to do? I can listen, I can talk. I’ll do whatever you need me to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I don’t know how to help Mark who lives upstairs and whose boyfriend is hitting him. I don’t know how to talk to people at work. I don’t know why I have absolutely nothing to do on a Saturday morning. I barely even know how to function as a human being most days. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you.” Jungwoo felt hot tears stream down his face and he let his phone drop to his side, so that Lucas didn’t see him cry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jungwoo.” The raw emotion in Lucas’s voice made the tears flow down Jungwoo’s cheeks even faster. “Jungwoo, you’re such a beautiful human being and you care so much for others, and it shows with Mark, but sometimes you just have to let people come to you. I had to do that with you after what happened with your parents. People will get help when they’re ready to admit something is wrong. And for work, you should go to an office party, talk to people in the breakroom, I know you can make small talk. You can do this, Jungwoo, I believe in you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I don’t believe in myself,” Jungwoo whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jungwoo, I know what you’re about to do and don’t you dare.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.” Jungwoo reached out and hung up on Lucas. His phone instantly lit up again, Lucas calling Jungwoo back. Jungwoo could imagine the panic on Lucas’s face, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Jungwoo reached out and silenced his phone’s buzzing, dousing his room in silence and melancholy, just his silent sobs wracking the empty air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was so useless, taking up Lucas’s time, making him panic for no reason, just because he didn’t feel worthy of his time, of his love. Jungwoo was a lonely, pathetic mess that just couldn’t seem to get anything right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> In almost a month, he had made no friends at work, barely even knew his coworkers' names. Mark was upstairs, dealing with an abusive boyfriend and Jungwoo had done absolutely nothing to help other than bring him fake homemade cookies. Jungwoo was just not cut out for the real world. He was failing to navigate the waters of adulthood, sinking as he barely even tried to swim. Jungwoo just wanted to seal his fate to the watery depths.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then a loud knock sounded on his door. “Jungwoo, open up,” a voice that Jungwoo hadn’t heard in several months called.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have permission from Lucas to bust down your door if you take more than two minutes to answer,” a second voice shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo sighed. Of course Lucas had called in backup, must’ve texted these two the minute he saw Jungwoo’s snap. Jungwoo forced himself to his feet, not wanting to have to explain to the landlord why his door was in pieces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he reached the entryway, Jungwoo took a deep, steadying breath, wiped the tears from his cheeks, and swung open his door to reveal Yuta and Johnny standing on the other side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Immediately, Yuta wrapped his arms around Jungwoo, Johnny following not even two seconds after, lifting up both Jungwoo and Yuta as if they were in some sort of cartoon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they finally broke apart, Yuta wiped the fresh tears that had fallen off of Jungwoo’s cheeks, tsking as a mother would.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “You don’t contact us for months, then suddenly we get a frantic text form Lucas with an address telling us that you were in some sort of crisis and that we needed to come quickly.” Yuta sounded more concerned than scolding, still holding on to Jungwoo tightly as if he was afraid he was going to fall apart. To be honest, Jungwoo himself was kind of afraid that he was going to fall apart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re scaring us, Jungwoo. What happened?” Johnny asked, leading them to the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo shrugged. “I graduated college, got a job, an apartment, realized how alone in the world I am. The usual.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuta swatted him gently on the arm. “You have us. And Taeyong. And Doyoung. And Jaehyun. Why haven’t you contacted any of us? We’re your friends, but we haven’t heard from you since January. We only knew you graduated from Lucas’s instagram post.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I dunno, I guess I just didn’t want to bother you. You guys have all moved on with your lives, you and Johnny are engaged for heaven's sake! You all seem so put together and I just didn’t want to interrupt that with all of my problems.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you not understand what friends are for? We’re here for you no matter what. It doesn’t matter that we have real jobs and stuff, or the distance between us. We will always be here for you, Jungwoo.” Johnny said, his voice deadly serious, leaving no room for argument.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Jungwoo sighed, leaning into Johnny’s side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now come on,” Yuta stood up and clapped his hands. “We’re going out for lunch.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That night, Jungwoo found himself laying on the floor of his room feeling more happy than he had in a long time. He had spent all day out with Yuta and Johnny, going out for lunch, then the movies, then meeting up with Taeyoung and Doyoung for dinner. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had received a thorough scolding from Taeyoung about his radio silence, saying that the fact that they no longer attended college together was not a good reason for Jungwoo to drop off the face of the planet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo had winced at that. They had all met Jungwoo’s freshman year at their college’s LGBTQ club. Befriending the group of juniors was something that Jungwoo blamed on Lucas, who had dragged him to the meeting, claiming that it was his job as Jungwoo’s roommate to get Jungwoo to socialize. Jungwoo had loudly voiced his disagreement, but Lucas’s puppy eyes were impossible to refuse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Over the course of the year, Jungwoo found himself with a bunch of new, very gay friends. They were not only his friends, but his mentors, helping him through all of his complicated feelings and keeping him sane through his difficult classes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then they had graduated, leaving Jungwoo and Lucas behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then Jungwoo was kicked out of his house and things went downhill fast. He was still trying to pick himself out of the hole he had fallen into. He had lost contact with basically everyone except for Lucas as he dragged himself through his last year of college.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Today was the first time in a long time that he had felt loved and it was enough to make his heart feel like bursting as he lay on the floor of his room, staring up at his ceiling. Yuta had made him promise that he would hang out with them every Saturday, no exceptions. And he had to answer their texts/snaps in a timely manner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a warm feeling in Jungwoo’s chest as he thought about the compassion in his friends eyes as they hung out, the way someone was always hugging Jungwoo or holding his hand as if to remind him that they were always there for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thinking of his friends gave Jungwoo a sudden idea. He quickly grabbed his speaker and turned the volume all the way up before thumbing through YouTube until he found the song he was looking for: “Lean on Me”. Jungwoo remembered singing the song at a summer camp, all of them with their arms slung around each other, belting out the lyrics while one of the counselors strummed the song on the guitar. It seemed well suited for this scenario. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He figured that the song was popular enough that Mark would know it, plus his name was English, so maybe he spoke the language. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo wasn’t quite sure, but clicked on the YouTube video anyways, blasting his apartment with the sound of an ad for five heart-wrenching seconds before he was able to skip it and get to the song. Well, if the song wasn’t enough to get Mark’s attention, that ad featuring kids running around screaming for cereal or something certainly was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, “Lean on Me” started and Jungwoo’s apartment was filled with Bill Withers’ voice at a decibel that was almost unbearable. Jungwoo really hoped his next door neighbor didn’t mind. At least they only had to suffer for 4 minutes and 18 seconds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo hoped that Mark could hear the song, could hear the lyrics, knew what they implied. He hoped that Mark understood that Jungwoo was here for him; Mark could rely on him for help, could lean on his shoulder when things got too hard to bear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark didn't have to struggle alone, Jungwoo was here for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo had Lucas, Yuta, Johnny, Doyoung, and Taeyong to lean on when he wasn’t strong, when he needed a helping hand and Jungwoo was more than willing to be that for Mark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo knew that domestic violence wasn’t an easy thing to simply just walk away from, and he couldn’t force Mark to do that, couldn’t force Mark to get help he didn't want or didn’t think he deserved. But he hoped Mark would accept his friendship, would call him when he needed a friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last note of the song reverberated through Jungwoo’s apartment before leaving it basked in silence. Jungwoo half wanted to start the song over again, but also didn't want to get a noise complaint, so he decided not to press the replay button on the screen and instead turned off his phone. There was only so much he could do to help Mark, and Jungwoo desperately hoped that this was enough. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The following morning, Jungwoo ran into Mark on his way to the grocery store for his weekly restock on ramen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey man,” Mark said by way of greeting and it stopped Jungwoo in his tracks, Mark never started the conversation; it was always Jungwoo who forced it along while Mark did his best to make it stop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey man, how are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pretty good,” Mark ran his hand through his hair and Jungwoo noticed for once he didn’t have his hood up over his head. “I just wanted to say that I heard the song you played last night. That was, uh, for me, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jungwoo just nodded, too stunned to speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And, uh, I guess, maybe I could come over sometime? If that’s alright, you know just to study and stuff when I don’t want to get in my boyfriend’s way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course!” Jungwoo exclaimed, a tad too enthusiastically. “You’re welcome over anytime that you want. I’m here for you if you ever need a friend or someone to talk to. Or if you don’t want to talk you can come over for a quiet place to sit and study. I don’t ever have anywhere I need to be.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark’s face lit up. “Really?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. Here.” Jungwoo handed his phone to Mark. “Type in your phone number so that we can text whenever. Don’t be afraid to talk to me whenever you need. You know that song I played last night? I mean it, every last word.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Mark smiled. “And I promise I’ll tell you about the noise--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, it’s okay,” Jungwoo cut him off, “You can tell me whenever you’re ready, but until then it must have been the wind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I have to go now, but I’ll see you around?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Definitely, don’t forget to text me!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And with that Mark was running off, leaving Jungwoo with a happy feeling. For the first time in a long time, Jungwoo felt hopeful. For the first time in what felt like forever, Jungwoo knew things were going to turn out alright.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i've had this idea ever since the song came out and i finally decided to write it. i hope that you all have a great day and please leave me a comment!! and a big thanks to @CallisaRose for beta-ing!!</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://curiouscat.me/6_intricate">CC</a><br/><a href="https://twitter.com/6_intricate">Twitter</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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